The Fifth Estate: Foreign Lobbyists

The Constitution provides for three branches of government: the executive,
Congress, and the judiciary – but there have been a few additions lately. With
the rise of mass communications, common parlance has designated the media as
the “Fourth Estate,” because – in theory – it is supposed to act as a “watchdog”
on the activities of the other three. (Although in practice, as we have seen,
it often doesn’t work out that way.) And as America entered the age of empire,
stepping out on the world stage and exerting its power, a development the Founders
foresaw – and greatly
feared – became a reality: the rise of foreign lobbyists, i.e. the Fifth
Estate, as a power in our domestic politics.

This was inevitable as we took the road to empire. Our foreign clients, protectorates,
and sock puppets have a material interest in maintaining the status quo: their
life blood depends on the smooth workings of the political machinery that keeps
the gravy train flowing from Washington to every point on the globe. “Foreign
aid,” arms deals, overseas bases that boost their economies, the deployment
of “soft power,” and the architecture of entangling alliances that have enmeshed
us all over the world – all of this is defended and relentlessly extended by
foreign lobbyists who work day and night to protect and expand their very profitable
turf.

The latest newsworthy example is the Saudi lobby, which is working overtime
these days to burnish the Kingdom’s badly tarnished image. The recent
agitation for the release of the censored 28 pages of the joint congressional
report on the 9/11 terrorist attacks – and news reports of their horrific war
crimes in Yemen – has them on the defensive.

The American people are waking up to the fact that the 9/11 hijackers – who
came to this country with little knowledge of English, and few resources – had
some significant assistance from at least one foreign intelligence agency, and
the Saudi connection, which is the subject of the redacted 28 pages, is now
in the spotlight. In response, the Saudi lobby is manning the barricades, with
articles like “Saudi
Arabia Is a Great American Ally” in Foreign Policy magazine, which
basically argues that we need these head-chopping barbarians because Iran is
worse. On the legislative front, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-Perpetual War) is
blocking
a Senate bill that would give the green light to a lawsuit by the families
of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudis. Graham and Senator John McCain have long
worked
hand-in-hand with the Saudis to garner US support for “moderate” Islamist
rebels fighting to overthrow the government of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. And
when the Saudis launched their terror-bombing of Yemen, Graham was right there
cheering them on – and lamenting that “they
no longer trust us” because they didn’t give us a heads up.

The Saudis have threatened
to sell $750 billion in US assets if the Senate bill passes. In the meantime,
President Barack Obama is in Riyadh, on a trip to repair frayed relations, where
he is receiving a “chilly
reception,” according to news accounts.

That’s the problem with being the world’s biggest superpower – you have to
do a lot of kowtowing.

The Saudi lobby is a vast public relations machine, well-oiled with money and
top-heavy with Washington insiders. Former Senator Norm Coleman, who headed
up the American Action Fund – a major “dark money”conduit to GOP campaigns –
and is now backing
Ted Cruz is on
the Saudi payroll.

On the other side of the partisan divide, the Clinton
Foundation is the recipient of Saudi money and the Podesta
Group, a major Democratic party public relations firm, is on retainer to
the Kingdom. Tony Podesta, founder of the firm, is a longtime supporter of Hillary
Clinton.

The nonprofit thinktanks are rolling
in Saudi dough, including the influential Atlantic Council, and the powerful
Middle East Institute (WINEP) a spin-off of the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC,
the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee..

Speaking of AIPAC, the Saudis are launching
their own version, the Saudi American Public Relations Affairs Committee
(SAPRAC) hoping to duplicate the Israel lobby’s well-known success.

The Saudis are just the most brazen and newsworthy of the foreign lobbyists
who are swarming over Washington like bedbugs in a cheap hotel. Intent on extracting
everything they can from Uncle Sam, they pay their public relations hacks well,
employing former members of Congress (like Coleman), wining and dining Beltway
insiders, and sidling up to gullible journalists (I may be repeating myself
there).

They have become so brazen that they don’t bother to hide their efforts to
interfere in American politics, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s support
for Mitt Romney in the last presidential election pretty much out in the
open. And the current race for the White House hasn’t escaped their attention:
a recent Politicopiece
is headlined “Trump Terrifies World Leaders,” and features choice quotes from
fear-stricken free riders, such as this from a Finnish official: “In Europe, we are concerned about the U.S. possibly turning
toward a more isolationist orientation. That would not be good for United States,
good for Europe, good for the world.” The Finns are far from alone:

“According to more than two dozen US and foreign-government officials, Trump
has become the starting point for what feels like every government-to-government
interaction. In meetings, private dinners and phone calls, world leaders are
urgently seeking explanations from Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary
of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Trade Representative Michael
Froman on down. American ambassadors are asking for guidance from Washington
about what they’re supposed to say.”

Drinkers at the American
trough “are worried about what it means for them: for their arms deals, for
their trade deals, for international funding and alliances that they depend
on.” They are, in short, worried about the possible loss of all that free stuff
they’re getting – and so they’re leaking mostly anonymous quotes to reporters.

Given the GOP frontrunner’s
railing against all the “bad deals” our leaders are making, not to mention his
campaign slogan of “America First,” it’s no wonder the “Never Trump” campaign
has a substantial foreign contingent.

This is the price we pay
for empire: interventionism is a two-way street. We send the Marines to foreign
lands – and they send their lobbyists to Washington. Our overseas client-states
have every interest in maintaining the level of financial and military support
that flows out to them, and it’s no surprise that they’re fighting to retain
it. The question is: are the American people finally beginning to realize that
their overseas empire is a burden rather than a boon?

The Fifth Estate is looking
out for Number One – but who is looking out for the American people?

NOTES IN THE MARGIN

You can check out my Twitter feed by going here. But please note that
my tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and largely
consist of me thinking out loud.

Author: Justin Raimondo

Justin Raimondo is the editorial director of Antiwar.com, and a senior fellow at the Randolph Bourne Institute. He is a contributing editor at The American Conservative, and writes a monthly column for Chronicles. He is the author of Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement [Center for Libertarian Studies, 1993; Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2000], and An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard [Prometheus Books, 2000].
View all posts by Justin Raimondo